One of the blessings of Ecclesiastes is the Teachers constant reminder that God has given us good gifts to enjoy under the sun. However, those gifts can easily become gods. When gifts become gods not only will we not find the security and satisfaction we are looking for we also won’t be able to enjoy what God gives us to enjoy. When we search for that which can only be found in our creator in what he was created the end result is misery.
In this section of Ecclesiastes, we find three ways of living: we can live lives of isolation, lives of surface level popularity and fame or lives where we engage in true, authentic community. As the teacher unpacks these three ways of living one things becomes clear, life is better together.
As finite beings we are constantly aware of the passage of time. As the teacher ponders the seasons of life and the rhythms of time he comes to several conclusions. First there is a purpose to all that takes place. God is overseeing and working through all the circumstances of life and everything that God is doing lasts and has purpose. Unfortunately, what God is doing may not always make sense to us, and although we desire and long for answers and understanding we may not always get it. How then should we live? We should enjoy the good gifts God gives to us and give Him thanks for them and we should trust Him in the difficult and hard times, the times where we struggle to understand what is going on, because He makes all things beautiful in His time.
“Do what makes you happy.” That seems to be the anthem of our age. We seek out the experiences, the treasures, and the pleasures of this world hoping that they will satiate our desire for meaning and for a while they may, but it never lasts. Like a drug, they give us a temporary high but then we begin to come down and we start searching for our next fix. We think: “maybe the next time the next possession, accolade, pleasure or relationship will finally fulfill me in a way none of the others before them have.” According to Solomon, living this way and enjoying all this world has to offer, will never truly satisfy us because, in the words of C.S. Lewis: “we were made for another world.”
Since 1989, NBC has run a series of public service announcements called “The More You Know.” The goal of these short segments is to provide a piece of information that will make people’s lives better. We often operate under the assumption that the key to a better life is more knowledge, but is that true? There may not be a better person to explore this question than Solomon, the man who is known by many as the wisest man to ever live. Solomon’s conclusion is this: while wisdom is better than foolishness, it often brings with it its own sorrows and frustrations. At the end of the day wisdom alone is not enough to make life matter or to make life meaningful.
In Matthew 5:16 Jesus says that there should be a difference in his followers that radiates out to the world in such a way that people see our good works and give glory to our Father in heaven. Our lives should be a walking billboard for the goodness of God and the difference Jesus makes. If we are going to be the type of people who shine bright for Jesus this year there are things that we are going to need to put off and put on: in the way that we speak to and about others, in the ways we go about our work, and in the priorities and passions that drive us.
If we are going to be the type of church that God wants us to be, if we are going to have the type of friendships, families, and marriages that God desires for us to have, it’s going to requires putting off and putting on in the areas of communication and conflict resolution. To love others well we need to be people who put off deception and put on truth. We need to be those who put off resentment and slander and instead put on the boldness to speak directly with others. People who use our words to build up rather than tear down and who replace bitterness and a judgemental spirit with forgiveness and empathy.
For many people a new year represents a new start. We commit ourselves to changing things, we make resolutions, we set goals, and we tell ourselves: “this will be the year.” Yet, by the time February rolls around, many of us find ourselves in the same place we were when the last year ended. One of the things that frustrates so many of our good intentions is a focus on either stopping something or starting something. In Ephesians 4:17-32 Paul teaches the church that real change requires both stopping and starting. Real transformation looks like putting off AND simultaneously putting on. In fact, Salvation itself reflects this pattern of putting off and putting on where we not only repent of our sins, but we start a new life of walking with Jesus.
At Christmas we celebrate the immeasurable love of God shown to us in the incarnation. The staggering truth that the God who is holy, omnipotent, omniscient, just, self-sufficient, merciful, faithful, sovereign, and good took on humanity, being born as baby to ultimately demonstrate the immensity of His love by dying on the cross to save and redeem us. God is not only a God who loves us, He is the very source and standard of love.